The Bridge of Time
by Wingwind the Wise
Summary: The end of the world is nearing and darkness is coming. War amongst the gods is at hand, and Kira finds herself faced with a decision that could either save or destroy the world. A broken oath will save the land, or all shall fall at the Traitor's hand...
1. My Teacher Falls Asleep After Class

Chapter 1: My Teacher Falls Asleep After Class

Just because you think the world is coming to an end doesn't mean it actually is. Just because you're helping it along doesn't mean you will succeed. I found that out the hard way.

In school, I do my best. Being dyslexic makes things difficult, but not impossible. I just have to work harder than most kids. It would be easier if I had private tutor or something awesome like that, but no. But then again, it's not as if I'm the only kid in the world that's dyslexic. My teachers all think that I don't try, but that's only part-way true. I mean, it's not as if I fall asleep in class. Hey, is it not my fault if every time we go on a field trip something goes wrong? Take, for example, the time in 4th grade when we went to see some dinosaur exhibit. Is it really my fault if the sign that says Do Not Touch fell over so I couldn't see it, so I climb on T-Rex and pull the whole thing down? Well, the teachers thought so. It wasn't even a real T-Rex, just some life-size plastic copy. Still, I got expelled. And then in 5th grade my class went to an opera, and I tripped down the steps. When I stood up, I didn't mean to hit the fire alarm. The little glass thing had fallen down somehow, and somebody pushed me into the the wall, and the end result was the sprinkler system going off and ruining the show. But the day things got really weird, it was just a normal day at school. I was on the bus, butterflies fluttering in my stomach; the school Math Bee was going to be that day. I'm great at math, but terrible at spelling. All I had to do was make sure I did not switch my numbers. It took me a while to learn to read, but my mom home-schooled me for the first few grades so I could learn at my own pace. _Anyway,_ I was on my way to school, staring out the window.

"Kira Sorrel, are you paying attention to me?" Jazzel snapped. "I asked twice if you had anything planned for Saturday."

"Oh, yes, no, sorry," I replied, gathering my thoughts as rapidly as I could. "Saturday? No, why?"

Jazzel answered, "I was wondering if you could come up to my house. On Saturday."

"I don't see why not, but I'll have to check with my mom first," I said.

"Alright. Tell me tomorrow, okay?"

"Sure."

The bus pulled up to the school, cutting our conversation short. We got off and raced inside, just like we always do. I lost by a long shot, just as I always do.

"You cheated!" I called after her.

"I did not," she replied indignantly.

"I'll beat you in gymnastics," I decided. "I've been practicing."

Jazzel rolled her eyes and smiled. "Whatever you say," she said lightly, her voice full of sarcasm.

Side note: Jazzel is awesome at gymnastics. I can do most physical activities without much problem, but Jazzel is amazing at anything that has to do with speed or grace. However, both she and I have trouble with reading and writing. You will not believe how many times I have written _'A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog'_ to get it right. I still usually don't. Just for the record, I hate that sentence.

Jazzel and I went right to our first classroom, which was math, but a bunch of kids didn't. It was fairly close to the entrance/exit, which is probably why practically all my classmates think they can just hope on in after the last second. Personally I hate being late for anything, so I'm usually in class as soon as possible. I have been known to show up for a class a half hour early simple so that I would not be late. Jazzel calls me crazy, but she comes with me anyway.

A few seconds after the bell rang, all the kids who weren't on time rushed in. It was like a herd of stampeding elephants. Rather frightening. The teacher frowned at the late children, but there were far too many of them to properly punish. She smiled tightly at Jazzel and I, then addressed the whole class.

"Please take your seats, class," she ordered. One of the boys raised his hand. "Yes, John?"

"Take our seat where? To the cafeteria?" he asked innocently. Half the class burst out laughing, but the teacher did not look amused.

"No, John, it can stay where it is, though you may take it to the Principal's office if you keep up your attitude or are late again," she said, barely suppressed anger in her voice. "Today is the Math Bee," she continued in a clear voice. "I want everyone in this room by one o'clock p.m. If you are late, I will deduct ten points from your final score." Another reason I like to be early. "Do you all understand?"

"Yes, Mrs. Adderson." We all chorused.

"Good. Everyone please turn to page 392 in you text book. No, Michel, I do not mean your cell phone."

Everyone turned to look at Michel, who was casting mortified glances around and hastily putting his phone back I into his pocket. A few people giggled, and his face was bright red. I pulled out my math book and turned to the assigned page, which was filled with triangles and A's, B's and C's, all of which were squared.

The rest of the day up to lunch went pretty normal: the rest of math class, science class, and then history. I am awful at history. Probably the best grade I ever received in it was a C-, and that was quite a while ago. The problem is that I can never remember if Columbus sailed the ocean in 1492 or 1942 and things like that. On the tests I always write everything down backward. Plus, the teacher has this awful monotone voice and I often get distracted. I try to stay on focus, I really do, but I just can't.

When finally the bell rang for lunch I heaved a great sigh of relief. No more discovering America! For some reason, our teacher is obsessed with discovering America. I ran down the hall until I reached the cafeteria, where Jazzel was waiting for me. You see, she has a different history class, which is _way_ better. Then again, anything would be better than my history class. Well, almost anything.

At lunch everyone was talking about the Math Bee, and about one thing in particular: who was going to win.

"Lisa Megans will win, of course." Everyone agreed. Lisa was the most popular girl in school and was good in every subject. Also, she was the most bratty, snobbish, annoying girl ever to exist on the face of the earth. Oh, and she thinks I am so worthless it is beneath her even to hate me. So nice, wouldn't you say?

"I think you will win," Jazzel whispered to me encouragingly.

"Thank-you. It's at the same time as gymnastics usually are, so you won't get to beat me." I laughed.

"I'll beat you to the lunch line," she pointed out. "And we still have school tomorrow, so I can beat you then. We will see just how much you have been practicing."

We laughed, then I said, "We should probably go get to the Math Room so we won't be late."

As it turned out, about half the class was late. Lisa showed up shortly after Jazzel and I, making sure to tell me that I had no chance of winning. I took some deep breaths and ignored her. I have a tendency to yell at people when they make me mad, but I'm working on not doing that so much.

"Class, I believe I told you to be on time. Please do as I tell you from now on. John, Peter, Anne, Christine, Paul, Mark, Susan, and Robert, you were all late." Mrs. Adderson wrote their names on the chalkboard. "At the end, I will subtract 10 points from each of your scores."

Several of the kids groaned. The Math Bee was the most important and fun thing in math class (which really isn't saying much).

"There is a prize for whoever wins the Math Bee, but it is a surprise. You will all find out what it is at the end of the competition." As if we all didn't know that. Mrs. Adderson announced the categories. "The first challenge is Mental Speed Math. The first problems will be easy and they shall get harder and harder as we go further along. if you get a question wrong in this part of the Bee you are not out, but you don't get points for that question. Does everyone understand?" When everyone said they did, Mrs. Adderson continued, "Lisa, you are first. Please come forward."

Lisa obeyed. She smiled, clearly comfortable standing in front of class. I suppose it didn't hurt her confidence any to know that everyone knew she was going to win.

Mrs. Adderson smiled benevolently at Lisa, then held up the timer in her hand. "Lisa, I am going to give you your equation. Are you ready?"

"Yes, Mrs. Adderson."

I sat on the edge of my seat, hoping desperately that she would mess up and get one wrong.

"What is 12 squared plus 6?"

"150," Lisa replied without hesitation.

"What is the value of x if 21 plus x is equal to 12?"

Lisa gave her answer without even having to think about it. "Negative 9."

After five questions, Lisa sat back down. Mark went. He had a good deal more trouble and took way too long. Sara, Kate, Lily, Grace, Sam, Joe and Paul all went, with no improvement. Lisa was still in the lead by far. Then it was my turn. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. I looked at the teacher, ready for my questions. It was probably just my imagination, but she seemed to look at me as if she wanted me to fail miserably. I pushed away the thought and prepared for my mental math.

"What is the cubed root of 64?"

Easy. "4," I replied.

"What is the value of x if 2 times x is equal to negative 2?"

_Really _easy. I had seriously expected the problems to be harder than this. "Negative 1."

"If a right triangle has a hypotenuse of 10cm and a leg of 6cm, what is the length of the other leg?"

Pythagoras Theorem. Also a three-four-five triangle. "8cm."

The teacher asked, "What is 10 squared plus 21?"

"121," I answered.

Before I knew it I was on my last question. "What is the radius of a circle if the area is 256pi cm squared?

Equation for area of a circle: Pi r Squared. "16."

I went back to my seat, tremendously relieved. The rest of the class answered their questions, but I barely heard them. When the last person sat down, Mrs. Adderson announced the current placements.

"So far, Lisa is in the lead. She got all of her questions correct and had the best time. Kira is in second place. She also got all of her questions correct, but her time was slightly longer." Everyone cheered, though I doubt it was for me. Lisa smiled broadly. "Now we shall move on to harder problems."

After answering a total of 50 questions each, the Mental Speed Math was over. My brain hurt, even before we went on to the written test. It was hard for me, because I often write down numbers backwards. I was really careful though (and it was mostly multiple choice), so I didn't do too badly.

"Come back in one hour and I will have the results for you. Off to Chem. Lab you go now!"

Let me tell you, after all that math I could only think about math, which was not the most useful thing. In Chem. Lab I nearly blew up my experiment— which contained a good deal of acid— but luckily my lab partner saved it.

"Careful!" she exclaimed hotly. "We already put in Baking Soda, so don't add vinegar! What were you thinking?"

I blinked, realizing she was right. "Sorry, I guess I wasn't thinking at all," I replied guiltily. "Thanks for saving the experiment, Lilieth."

"You're welcome. I suppose you did do a lot of thinking in the 6th grade Math Bee." Lilieth relented. She's in 7th grade, so she didn't participate in the Bee.

"Yeah. My brain hurts so much now. Lisa probably won, but I don't care."

"Of course you care! But you should; everyone in 6th grade cares about the 6th grade Math Bee. I'm sure you did just fine," Lilieth said optimistically.

I smiled at her gratefully, glad that she understood. Suddenly our Chem. teacher walked in. Lilieth stood in front of the semi-ruined experiment so that he couldn't see.

"All 6th grade students are dismissed to go receive their results," the teacher informed us, then exited.

I looked at Lilieth. She smiled knowingly and said, "Go on. I can clean this up and get it going on the right track again."

I thanked and practically ran to the math room, and I wasn't the only one. The hall was filled with excited and nervous 6th-graders, more than I had even realized were in my class.

"Everyone settle down please," Mrs. Adderson ordered. She has this weird habit of saying 'please' when we don't have a choice. We all more-or-less quieted, though murmurs still ran through the group.

As I waited for the results I fingered my gold ring, feeling with my fingertips the tiny diamond hourglass. It had been a gift from my father, whom I had never met. Mom had told me that he was absolutely wonderful, but had had to go away. Other than that, I did not really know much about him.

"Now, for the winners. I will announce first, second and third places here in class, and the places lower than that will be posted on the door after class," Mrs. Adderson announced. She paused dramatically, then continued in the voice the guy uses on _America's Got Talent_, "In third place, David Adderson!" In case you didn't guess, he's her son. The class applauded as he stepped forward to receive his certificate and the great mystery prize, which was a trophy with a math equation on it. I solved it for no particular reason. The answer was 25_i_. When the measly cheering died down, the teacher went on. "In second place, Kira Sorrel!" I was so shocked I didn't take any notice of the bitter annoyance in her voice. I had thought that I would be in fourth place at best, but _second?_ It was unbelievable! Part of me was disappointed, but I tried to suppress it. I walked up to the front of the classroom and received my own certificate and math-problem trophy, ignoring the fact that the class was not exactly wild. Lisa got first, naturally. She walked up like a movie star, pride and happiness flowing off of her. The applause she received was actually genuine, not to mention quite lengthy. I wasn't surprised, but I was a bit envious.

"Congratulations to everyone, you all did very well and I am proud of everyone. Please do not forget to do you homework," Mrs. Adderson said, sounding somewhat like a computer program. I doubted she meant the part about being proud of everyone. The bell rang and everyone rushed to the door, myself nowhere near the back of the crowd. An icy voice cut through the sudden jabber that accompanied the end of school. "Ms. Sorrel, please see me in my office." I froze. What had I done wrong? Surely she didn't think I had cheated. I had never cheated before, as proven by my overall terrible grades. I glanced around for Jazzel, who gave me a look of sympathy,and cautiously I went into Mrs. Adderson's office.

"Please have a seat, Ms. Sorrel," she said when the door closed behind me. It may have just been a trick of the strange red lighting, but her eyes seemed less brown and more crimson.

"Yes?" I asked tentatively, slowly lowering myself into a chair. I have no doubt that my gold-flecked green eyes were huge as I waited to hear what she had to say.

"Ms. Sorrel, it seems to me you are special." That was not necessarily bad, but it wasn't necessarily good either. "You are special in a very interesting way. But, despite what makes you special, we have found you."

"What?" I asked, completely confused.

"We have found you!" Mrs. Adderson repeated triumphantly. Her fingernails began to grow, and her teeth seemed sharper. I sat stone still as she advanced.

"Sleep!" a voice from behind me suddenly commanded.

I spun my chair around (it was one of those spinning ones) to look at the speaker. To my surprise, it was my mom. She looked absolutely furious. I turned back around and was stunned to see Mrs. Adderson laying on the floor, fast asleep.

"Mom, what's going on?" I inquired uneasily, looking back and forth between my mom and my sleeping teacher.

"Come with me. I will explain everything when we get home," she ordered sharply. "I'll drive you home. No bus."

"But I didn't say goodbye to Jazzel!" I protested.

"You can apologize tomorrow. We have to get you home," my mom said. "Your life may depend upon it."

"But—" I began, then the 'your life may depend upon it' part registered in my brain and I fell silent.

"We must get home. I will explain everything later." She gave me a look that silenced any other protests I might have had and we left the teacher's office. I expected to make a mad dash to the car, but Mom walked calmly over, stopping to throw away her gum on the way. When we were in the car she drove at her regular speed, just under the speed limit. What seemed like hours later we went into the house and sat down at the kitchen table.

"Now will you tell me what on earth happened back there?" I asked desperately.

My mom nodded, then took a deep breath. "What I am about to tell you may be very difficult for you to understand, but I feel that it is vitally important that you know and believe. Previously I protected you, and so did your ring, but you have been found anyway, as I am sure your teacher told you."

"What is it?" I demanded, getting impatient. "What happened? Why did it happen? Who is Mrs. Adderson?"

"I will answer all of your questions soon, or you will answer them yourself," Mom promised. She forced a smile and then took another deep breath. "You see, Kira, your father is Kronos, Titan King on the Gods."


	2. Visions Of The Present

I stared at her blankly for a moment, not quite comprehending what I had just heard. Then it hit me. The _Greek_ gods. Suddenly I wished I had read up more about Greek and Roman mythology. As it was, I really only knew the basics.

"They're real? The Greek Gods are _real_?" I said in shock and disbelief. I had to have heard wrong. There was no way it could be true.

"Yes, the Greek gods exist. The ring your father gave you deterred the monsters that would otherwise have hunted you down. It has other magical properties that Kronos will explain to you, if you will agree to meet him." My mom sounded so calm and sincere I just had to believe her. I mean, she'd never lied to me before. "There is something else."

"What, do the Norse gods exist too?" I asked, actually thinking this might be a logical possibility.

"Of course not," Mom said as if it were totally obvious. "This matter relates directly to your father."

"Oh," I said dully. "Who was he again?"

"Your father was destroyed by the gods long ago. You remember this from Greek Mythology, right?" I shook my head; Greek mythology is not something I had found interesting, and thus not something that I cared to remember. Mom sighed and then smiled knowingly and continued, "before that, before Zeus was born, Kronos ruled. His rule was know as the Golden Age, an age without crime, anger or hatred. Now Kronos is rising again, and he needs your help to do so. Once he overthrows the gods, he will bring about a new Golden Age to man."

I had to admit, that sounded pretty great, especially since my mom was so passionate about it. Randomly I wondered if it would be known as the Diamond Age, or if it would just be called the Second Golden Age. Whatever it would be called, it seemed like something I wanted to be part of. "What can I do?" I inquired without hesitation. After all, this was my _dad_ that needed help. Of course I would help him (If he really existed).

"Kronos is attempting to rise to power again. He has told me his plans, so I know of what I speak. Zeus cares not for humans, but Kronos desires peace and prosperity. Being the God of Time, he learns from the past, looks to the future, and lives in the present. But he must raise an army to defeat the gods."

"But I can't fight," I pointed out, only a little despairingly. Not to mention most of her speech went way over my head.

Mom smiled. "You were born with special abilities because you are a demigod. Your father has training arranged for you, if you will accept it. Nothing will be forced upon you." She paused for a second to let that sink in. "What do you say?"

I didn't even have to really think about it. The answer was so obvious, so clear. "I will go. I will help my father." Wouldn't you have helped your dad?

"Good," Mom said, sounding a tiny bit relieved, though a bit as if she had expected it. "We will leave on Saturday. Pack whatever you think you will need for the trip there, and any other items you would like to have. Your father can provide anything that we lack when we arrive," my mom said lightly.

"I suppose that means I can't go to Jazzel's house this Saturday," I guessed, disappointed.

"Sorry, but you are correct. You can tell her that you are going on a trip. A very long trip," she answered a little ominously.

"To where?" I inquired, hoping to get a better knowledge about the strange world I had found myself in.

"Los Angeles. Your father is waiting there for us," she replied almost wistfully. Then she added in a very motherly voice, "Now go pack."

I nodded in what I hoped looked like confidence and understanding (but probably looked more like reluctance and confusion), and headed down the hall to my room.I half expected to see a monster sitting on my bed but, anticlimactically, there wasn't. I looked under the bed, but there was no monsters there either. Satisfied that my room was at least mostly safe for the moment, I sat on my bed, thinking. I stayed there for several minutes, biting my lip, unable to decide what to bring on the trip. For some reason I had a hard time focusing on packing, and my thoughts kept traveling back to the bright yellow book of Greek Myths at the school library. Also, when everything you could possibly need will be provided for when you get there and you have no idea how long you are going to be there, it's kind of hard to pack.

I'm not that good at packing, anyway, and I can never seem to get all clothes to fit in my duffel bag. After six minutes of sitting on my bed I finally pulled all the clothes out of my dresser and stacked them haphazardly on my bed. I stared at that not exactly inviting sight for a few more minutes, then began to sort through it to find what I may need. Onto a pile on the floor went more than two weeks worth of clothes for any possible weather conditions. I then attempted to fit it all into my one duffel bag, but as you can imagine, I failed miserably. Exasperated that I could not even get all the clothes into the bag, let alone zip it up, I pulled out two of my four jackets, three of my seven T-shirts, and two of my five pairs of jeans and tried again. This time it worked a little better (I got the bag to close), but it looked like it was about to burst. I shrugged at the overly stuffed bag and moved onto the other stuff I would need. I grabbed a bottle of water, a candy bar (yes, I needed it), my pocketknife, my other knife, my small makeup kit, several fantasy and sci-fi books, a calculator (who knows, it may come in handy), several flashlights, a bunch of other junk, and a picture of Jazzel and me.

I glanced hopefully over my bookshelf for something on the Greek gods, but there was nothing on the subject. I set both of my very full bags by my door, then sat down to do my homework. Because of the Math Bee all of the teachers had given less homework than usual, and most of it was really easy. When I had worked through all of my other homework twice (I do that so that I catch some of my mistakes), I reached into my backpack for my math homework, which I always save for last since it is my favorite. To my horror, I could not find the booklet it was in. I desperately dumped out the contents of my backpack, but it was not there. I searched around my room, under the mountain of clothes still looming on my bed, on the floor, under the bed, everywhere I could think of, but it was not there. Then suddenly I remembered that it was back at school on Mrs. Adderson's desk. I groaned in despair. You see, I have this really weird passion for getting assignments in on time. I may not always get homework right, but I get it done on time. It goes along with the whole not being late thing.

Since all my stuff was at least close to packed, I left the scary-looking pile of clothes on my bed and headed to the kitchen for some supper. Usually I have to fend for myself and dig through the fridge, but tonight the table was set and there was roast and mashed potatoes on the counter.

"Hey, Mom," I said as I entered. "I'm all ready to go."

She smiled proudly at the prepared meal. "Good. We'll leave in two days. However, we will eat a real meal tonight."

"Two days? Why not right away?" I asked. For some reason I had thought that this was an urgent matter. Almost being attacked by my math teacher didn't do much to deter that feeling.

"It's not that simple. You see, I have to make sure that the monsters don't already know what we are planning, and I need to clear the area of them. When they can't find you, there will be nothing to stop them from attacking regular people."

"Oh," I said numbly. I hadn't even thought of that. How could I have been so self-centered about this when hundreds of people could die? My face must have given away what I was thinking, because Mom smiled knowingly.

"It's all right, Kira," she soothed. "You're still very new at this. Every Half-Blood is the same way at first, but as you learn you will grow out of it."

I nodded, hoping she was right. But the smell of the roast was just so good that I decided to save the worrying for later and eat now.

"Let's eat," I suggested, sitting down in front of plate. Mom sat down across from me.

"To Kronos," she said, lifting her plastic orange juice glass.

I smiled and raised my glass as well. "To Kronos," I repeated, clinking my cup against hers. We drank our juice, then attempted at regular dinner conversation.

"So, Kira, how was school?" Mom asked, trying to sound as if everything was normal and I hadn't almost been attacked by a psycho teacher.

"Um, pretty good, I guess," I replied uncertainly. "I got second place in the Math Bee."

"Very good, Kira! You have improved so much this year. I think sending you to that school was the right decision," she praised, seeming almost genuinely happy.

"Really?" I asked incredulously, thinking of Mrs. Adderson.

"Well, aside from what happened today," Mom amended. "But just think how much you have learned."

She was right; in the past day or so I had learned that the Greek gods were real and that I was the daughter of one of the Titans. You could say I had learned a lot recently. I couldn't think of anything to add to what she had said, so I didn't say anything. We fell into an awkward silence as we ate. You would think that I would barely be able to eat anything after my somewhat traumatizing experience earlier, but my appetite had not suffered at all. I generously covered my mashed potatoes with butter, salt and pepper. Mom did not seem so hungry; she barely touched her food. Finally she broke the silence.

"Kira, there is something you need to know. Your father can be rather intimidating because he is in Tartarus. I don't want you to be frightened."

"I won't," I replied confidently through a mouthful of potatoes, though secretly I was terrified at the very sound of it.

"Good," she said simply, then she got a fare-away look in her eyes and said no more. I finished up my roast and potatoes, then put my dishes in the dishwasher and headed to bed. Unfortunately the massive pile of clothes on my bed was still there, so I just moved them to the floor, changed into my Pj's, brushed my teeth and went to bed. I hoped I would find some peace in my sleep.

_I was in a cave far underground. It was a dark, eerie place with a huge, scary looking pit with a tall creepy guy standing next to it. _

_"How fares my daughter?" a deep voice from the pit inquired, making me jump. Somehow, as is often the way of dreams, I knew it was the voice of Kronos. _

_The weird man replied, "Mrs. Sorrel contacted me and informed me that she is doing well. She received a second place ribbon in her school's Math Bee, after which she was attacked by her teacher. We do not know for sure who sent the monster, but right now it seems like it was Zeus."_

_"That is not good news," Kronos said, his voice betraying his worry. "Is she coming here? She is my daughter and no harm must come to her."_

_"Mrs. Sorrel told me that they would be leaving Saturday."_

_"Good, good. Make sure they arrive safely. Long I have wished to meet my beloved daughter."_

_The cave faded away and I found myself in a cloudy place high in the sky. A bunch of richly dressed, important-looking people sat in a semi-circle on intricately carved chairs. I recognized Mount Olympus from the pictures I had seen in my Greek Mythology book. The gods were arguing about all sorts of things, from a new sculpture that was going to go in the throne room to the fate of mankind. None of them seemed to agree on anything and it was obvious that no one was going to compromise. It seemed rather useless, and I wondered why these petty arguing gods were in charge of the world. _

_Mount Olympus disappeared, and I was in a forest. A group of tough-looking kids in full battle armor who bore a banner that had a symbol I somehow knew to be Ares' picked on a scrawny kid who had a bandana that read 'Hermes Rocks'. He didn't beg for mercy and he didn't fight back (his only weapons were his fists, feet and a bow), the only sign he cared about what was happening to him was the proud, determined look on his face. The Ares kids spat insults that I couldn't quite hear at him, which he did not reply to. This enraged the Ares kids even more, and they quickly beat him to a pulp. I wanted to help him, but it was as if I could only see and not act in this dream. _

The scene faded into nothing, and I slept peacefully for the rest of the night. I had no more dreams, which I was very grateful for.


	3. The Bus Blows Up

Yay! The third chapter is up! It's the longest so far. Please tell me what you think so I can improve. Telling me that it's good is also welcome

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"Mom, do you think Dad will approve of me?" I asked over breakfast.

"Yes, of course he will. I have sent him many messages about you and he has sent back that he was proud of you," she replied.

I sighed in relief. "You sent him a message about the Math Bee," I stated. I wanted to know if my dream had been true.

"Yes, I did." She sounded surprised. "How did you know?"

I looked into her eyes. They're a very deep shade of blue. Mine are green flecked with gold. "I had a dream about it last night."

Mom nodded in understanding. "Because you are a Half-Blood you will experience many strange dreams."

I said something along the lines of "Okay", then continued with my breakfast. Suddenly I had a thought. I mean, it's not every day you run into a Greek God.

"Mom, how did you meet my father?" I still wasn't conferrable with saying Kronos.

"It was sort of complicated, but really it was my father who introduced us."

"Who is your father?" I asked a little uneasily, not quite sure I wanted to know. Things were weird enough as it was.

"My father is Morpheus, god of Dreams."

To that I said something really intelligent like "Oh".

"Did you brush your hair?" my mom asked, changing the subject.

I shook my head. It had completely slipped my mind.

"Let me do it for you." She got out the brush. "Your hair is so golden," she commented. "Just like your father's eyes." Gold eyes. Weird. "I always wanted gold hair when I was a girl. Instead I was stuck with black." When she was done brushing my hair she said, "Well, you had probably better get to school. The bus will be here any minute now."

I was bursting with questions, but I grabbed my backpack and hurried out the door anyway. It was chilly, but I was used to that having lived in the north most of my life. My mom didn't like to stay put anywhere, so we moved every year or so.

The bus pulled up. I boarded it and went to my usual seat. Jazzel was waiting. Aside from the bus driver, we were the only ones on the bus.

"Well?" she asked hopefully.

"No. My mom told me last night that we're going on vacation to Los Angelus tomorrow. Sorry," I said.

Jazzel sighed. "Oh, well. Maybe some other time. How long will you be gone?"

"I'm not sure. My mom didn't tell me." We stopped our conversation when we heard a quiet _tick, tick, tick._

"What is that?" Jazzel asked. I shrugged. Then there was a _**BOOM!**_ The bus began to explode. Time seemed to slow. I opened the emergency exit window and threw Jazzel out. Time was liquid. Somehow I managed to run up to the front of the bus and save the bus driver as well. Everything except me was going in slow motion, so slow that I got off the bus before it completely exploded. Fortunately, there were no major casualties that I could see.

"What happened?" Jazzel cried.

"I'm not sure. I think it was a bomb on the bus," I replied shakily. My ring felt hot on my finger and it was glowing slightly.

_Thank-you, father._ I prayed silently.

"Are you okay?" I asked Jazzel.

"Besides almost being blown up? I'm doing great. But my arm isn't working." She laughed dryly.

"Do you have a cell phone?" I inquired. We were in the middle of nowhere with no one in sight.

"Yah. It's in my left jacket pocket. I can't get to it," she replied. I got it for her. "Call someone." She whispered.

"Alright," I said. I punched in my mom's number. After a few rings, my mom picked up.

"Hello?" my mom said. The reception was bad, so her voice was really staticy.

"Mom, we need your help. The bus exploded and Jazzel broke her arm. We're only a few minutes down the road. I haven't checked to see if the bus driver is okay yet," I said.

"I was on my way to work. I'll be right there." My mom hung up.

"My mom's coming," I told Jazzel. "We need to get off the road. Where is the bus driver?"

We looked around, but couldn't find him.

"That's strange. I'm sure I got him off the bus," I murmured under my breath. We continued to look around.

"Kira, who would put a bomb on the bus?" Jazzel asked. I hadn't really thought about it.

"I don't know," I replied. "Do you think we should call the principle and tell him we'll be late for school?"

"We probably already are," Jazzel pointed out, "but there should be a replacement bus for the other kids. Your mom can call about that. You should call 911."

I quickly dialed the number. I had to try twice because the first time I dialed 991. I hate being dyslexic.

"Hello?" the lady said when I finally got it right. "What is the nature of you emergency?"

"Our school bus blew up. My friend is hurt and I don't know what happened to the driver. We're on Pineneedle Drive between houses 1129 and 1139," I replied quickly.

"11_92_ and 11_93_," Jazzel corrected hoarsely.

"Sorry, it's 1192 and 1193," I told the lady.

"Alright. 1192 and 1193?"

"Yes."

"I'm sending help right now. They'll be there soon. Just hang on, okay?" The lady continued to talk to me, though I couldn't figure out why. Thinking back on it now, she was probably trying to reassure me. Anyway, I spent a while on the phone. That was before I knew that monsters can hear your voice when it's broadcasted across the air. I soon found out.

"What is that?" Jazzel whispered, fear apparent in her voice. She seemed to be in a lot of pain.

"What is what?" I asked her. She just pointed. All I could see was a brown-bronze cat. At least it looked like a cat. On closer examination, it appeared to have a beak. Strange.

"Kira, we have to hide. We have to hide!" Jazzel sounded frantic.

"Let's go to the bus."

"I can't move my leg." Why did I throw her out the window? I half carried, half dragged Jazzel to the remains of the bus. It was not easy. I was tired from slowing time so much, and physical power never really was my strong point. Fortunately, Jazzel doesn't weigh much. Briefly I wondered how much longer before my mom was got there, but mostly I was worried about getting to the bus without the beaked cat seeing us.

"What did you see?" I inquired in a hushed whisper when we were "safely" behind the bus.

"I'm not sure," she gasped in pain, " but I thought I saw a—a griffon!"

"A griffon?" I swallowed a lump in my throat. Of course: cat plus beak equals griffon. We were very lucky it hadn't noticed us. Yet. There was no way I could fight a griffon, unless my instincts were _really_ good.

"At first I thought I was seeing things, but then I looked again and it was still there." She sounded truly frightened. "You believe me, don't you?"

"Of course I believe you," I said solemnly. She sighed in relief.

"Did you see it, too?" she asked.

"No. I only saw a cat-thing, but I believe you," I replied.

"You must have just not gotten a clear view," Jazzel decided.

"Don't worry about it. My mom will be here soon. You will be safe then." _I hope_. I added to myself.

"And the police. The police are coming, too, right?" Jazzel whispered.

I nodded. "Yes, the police are coming, too."

We heard the sirens long before we saw the police cars and the ambulance. My mom arrived before them and chased off the griffon. To tell the truth, I didn't really pay attention to how she did it. I had about a bazillion other things on my mind at the time.

"Kira, Jazzel, are you all right?" my mom called over the sirens.

"I'm fine, but Jazzel's hurt," I replied. "The police are on their way. Thanks for getting rid of the griffon. Do you see the bus driver?"

My mom hurried to Jazzel's side, examining her. "Does this hurt?" she touched Jazzel's leg. Jazzel screamed. "The ambulance is here now. You are safe."

"Excuse me, ma'am, but we need an account of what happed," a police officer said. Several paramedics hurried Jazzel into the ambulance.

"I wasn't on the bus, obviously, but my daughter," she indicated to me, "called me, so I came as fast as I could."

The officer turned to me. "Then we need you to tell us everything that happened up until the accident."

I swallowed. Until that moment, I hadn't had time to really get terrified. Now it was all coming at me at full force. I couldn't speak. "I, uh… the bus… um…" I began to cry.

"It's okay. You've had quite a shock. Physically you seem fine, but we should get you to the hospital anyway. Was there anyone else on the bus besides you and the other girl?" The officer asked.

I replied, "Just the driver."

I don't remember much of what happened immediately following that, but my mom told me I was whisked away to the hospital where they had me rest for the remainder of the day. After that I told the police everything I knew, excluding the griffon, of course. And the fact that I saved the bus driver, and slowing down time. Not too much left out, right?

"Do you know what happened to the bus driver? I didn't see him after the crash," I inquired of the officer.

He replied, "I'm terribly sorry, but she didn't make it. Her remains were found in the bus debris."

_She?_ I thought. I_ knew_ that the bus driver had been a male. Once I baked him cookies. Jazzel knew, too. I would have to talk to her about it.

"Kira, we need to go. The hospital discharged you," my mom said.

"May I talk to Jazzel first? I want to see how she's doing," I requested.

"Jazzel is unconscious, so no, you can't talk to her," my mom replied.

I sighed. We would leave without even getting to say good-bye, and there was no telling how long it would be before we got to see each other again. Mom drove home as fast as she could, going over the speed limit just a little. Luckily, she didn't get pulled over.

"So, what really happened?" my mom asked finally.

"Everything I told the policeman is true, but I know I threw the bus driver out of the bus. Also there was the thing with the griffon, but you already know about that. And the bus driver was a _he_, not a she. I know. Jazzel knows. How could the police officer get it so wrong?"

"It's called Mist. It's what makes mortals think that everything is normal. Things appear differently to mortals than they really are. This is caused by the Mist."

I said, "oh." Not the most intelligent thing, but it was all I could think of. I sat in silence for a moment, then added, "mom, I think I must have slowed time. It's the only explanation. After all, I saved Jazzel, the bus driver, and myself before the bus exploded, which should be impossible."

Mom smiled. "You are the daughter of Kronos. You should have some power over time. But you need to rest now. Sleep."

Then my mom did her whole Daughter-of Morpheous thing and I instantly fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

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**Does it still go too fast? Is it good? Is Kira still too much of a Mary-Sue? Please review! I love reviews, and can't get enough of them! Also, thank-you for taking the time to read my story. That is also encouraging. Since you've already taken the time to read, how about you REVIEW? **** PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE? Thanks**!


	4. I Make An Eternal Promise

**Here's the new chapter! Thanks for reading. : ) **

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My first thought when I woke up was school. I was late! And my homework was due today. My inner clock told me it was 6:13pm, which was confusing. Had I slept in? Then I noticed I was in the car.

"Mom?" My voice came out in a hoarse whisper.

"Yes, Kira?" my mom answered in her sweet voice.

"What happened to the bus driver? The real one, I mean. Not the one from the Mist," I inquired.

"I am not perfectly sure, but it is my belief that he was a Cyclopes. I saw some suspiciously large footprints going away from the bus."

"So I shouldn't have saved him."

"No, what you did was right. You had no idea that he was a monster and anyway, not all monsters are evil. I suspect that one was, but there is no way to be sure," Mom replied.

"As you know, most Cyclopses are children of Poseidon, God of the Sea."

"Mom, do we have to wait until tomorrow to leave? I don't feel very safe here." We pulled into the driveway. By that time I was _really _scared. I mean, my teacher had attacked me, the bus had blown up, a griffon had shown up, and a Cyclopes was the bus driver. Who wouldn't be terrified?

"Yes, you're right, we should probably leave today. We're lucky you were not actually attacked by the griffon or the Cyclopes," Mom agreed as we went inside. "We will leave ASAP. I'll contact your father."

I said, "Okay."

"Finish packing your things and put them in the car," Mom ordered. "I'll get the snacks together."

I went to my room and grabbed my bag. Since I had packed everything the night before I took the bag out to the car. I heard the beating of wings, but hawks are extremely common here I hardly noticed. I closed up the car and headed back to the house.

Suddenly I felt huge talons digging into my back. I screamed in pain and the bird lifted me into the air. I touched my ring without really thinking about it (I was thinking mostly about the big bird carrying me away) and a pair of Sai—daggers with smaller daggers curving from the side—appeared in my hands. I was so surprised that I nearly dropped them. My first thought was _What on earth?_ And my second thought was_ Yay, a weapon to use against the big bird!_ And that's what I did. It doesn't take a lot of training to know that if you have a dagger, you should stab the bird that's carrying you off. The only problem was when monsters die they disintegrate, thus causing me to fall from the sky. Again I screamed. No amount of time slowing can soften a fall. Fortunately I wasn't very high up and I landed on spongy grass. It still hurt _a lot_. I stopped screaming and switched to groaning.

"Kira, are you alright? What happened?" My mom rushed over to me. I just groaned. "Get into the car. We have to leave _now_." She helped me into the car while holding the bag of food. My whole body hurt a lot and there were huge scratch marks on my back, but nothing was broken. Like I said, I was very lucky.

"That was an eagle of Zeus and, if I guess correctly, the same one that tormented Promtheus for all those years," Mom explained as she drove. I just nodded, not really caring. Some big bird had attacked me, Sai had appeared, and now I was safe and there were no Sai.

"Here, eat this." Mom handed me a small white cube. It didn't look very appetizing, but I ate it anyway. It tasted like strawberries dipped in the best chocolate. Immediately I felt better.

"What was that stuff?" I inquired.

"That was ambrosia, the food of the gods. Half-Bloods can eat it, but we must be careful because if we eat too much, we'll go up in flames," replied Mom. I decided not to eat too much of it.

The trip took several days. I did my homework on the way (somehow my mom had gotten all of the homework for the rest of the year). Let me tell you, it is so much easier to do your homework _after_ the teachers explain how to do it. Also, if you value your life, be careful how many times you ask your mom for help.

"We're here," Mom announced. We got out of the car and headed to a large hotel. "We'll go see your father tonight. Try to get some rest."

When your mom is the daughter of Morpheus, you never have trouble getting to sleep. It's just when you fall asleep you dream. A lot. That afternoon I dreamed about the kids with the Ares banner again. They were in full battle armor. A centaur was saying something about no maiming or killing. Then they all charged off with a bunch of other kids who were carrying different banners. The scene rushed forward. Now there was one Ares kid and one Apollo kid.

"We will be triumphant!" the Ares kid shouted. "No child of Apollo shall ever beat me!" she charged, apparently ignoring the 'No maiming or killing' rule. The dule was short, as the Apollo kid only had a small knife and a bow. The Ares kid was about to deal the death blow, when she was pinned to a tree by five arrows. A troop of teenagers rushed over to the wounded Apollo kid. I woke up.

"Kira, we need to go now. Our guide is here," Mom said.

"Okay," I mumbled, still groggy from sleep. I followed her and a guy in a dark cloak down a bunch of stairs, further than the hotel could possibly go. When we exited the stairway we found ourselves in the cave I had dreamed about.

"Kronos, we have come," Mom called to the pit. A dark mist came up. I shivered, half with the cold the mist brought and have with fear.

"Sarah, Kira, how I have longed to see you," the dark mist said.

"Oh, Kronos! I have missed you so much. Kira has been attacked by then gods. We didn't know were else to come," Mom replied.

"You are safe now," Kronos assured. "You are both safe."

"Kronos?" I said uncertainly.

"Kira, my beloved daughter. It is wonderful to meet you at last," Kronos exclaimed. "But please, don't call me Kronos, call me Dad."

"Okay, dad," I started again, "Mom told me that you needed my help. What can I do?"

"What are you willing to do for me against the gods?" Kronos asked.

"Almost anything that is within my power," I answered.

"Your power shall grow." Kronos went on to explain that in order for him to fight the gods he had to take a solid from and in order to do that Half-Bloods had to pledge allegiance to him.

When he was done explaining I knew what I had to do. I stepped forward and kneeled down in front of the dark mist. "I, Kira Sorrel, pledge my allegiance to my father Kronos, Titan King of the Gods."

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**Like I said at the beginning of this chapter thanks for reading. PLEASE REVIEW! How about you click on that button with the green writing. We both know you want to. : )**


	5. Training: Sword Bad and Archer Good

**I was wondering, how do you get a Beta-reader for your story? I would love to have a Beta-reader, but I don't know how to get one. **

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The dark mist that was Kronos became more solid after I spoke the words.

"Thank-you, Kira," Kronos said. "When do you wish to start your training?"

"About now would be good," I answered. A gong rang out.

"Follow him. He's a monster, but he works for me. He will not harm you," Kronos instructed.

The Monster-That-Would-Not-Harm-Me led me to a large arena. A bunch of other monsters were already there.

"Greetings, daughter of Kronos," a human-looking boy said.

"Hi," I replied, "and you are…?"

"Matthew Stevens. I'm half Frost Giant."

"So, Stevens, what exactly am I supposed to do?" I inquired.

"How much training have you had?"

"Unless you count my On-The-Field training, absolutely none," I answered.

"Then you should probably start with beginners training. Off to the sword arena we go!"

When we got to the sword arena Stevens handed me a sword and a shield.

"This is a strike, and this is a block," he said dryly, demonstrating the moves as he told me what they were. "Now you try."

I swung my sword awkwardly.

"No, that's all wrong! It's not a baseball bat, for Atlas's sake!" Stevens exclaimed.

"Well I'm sorry," I replied hotly. "Maybe if I had a better teacher I would have a clue what I was supposed to do!"

"Watch me." Stevens swung his sword slowly, showing exactly how to do it. I swung my sword, but again it was completely wrong. Stevens sighed. "How can you not be able to fight with a sword?" I glared at him and he fell silent. "Maybe you would do better if we sparred?" he suggested. I agreed.

"Ready? Go!"

Stevens charged me. I felt the same strange feeling I had had when the bus was exploding. The air in front of me turned icy cold and I grew very stiff. Time slowed without me even thinking about it. As it turned out we had to stop our magic, seeing as neither of us would get anywhere if we continued. This was considerably harder to do than I had expected. Stevens disarmed me within seconds.

"Let's try something else. Do you like archery?" Stevens suggested.

"Sure. It's got to be better than swordplay," I answered.

We went to a huge archery range. Several strange monsters practiced shooting. Whenever I walked passed one it said either, "Greetings, Daughter of Kronos," or "Greetings, Lady of Time." Let me tell you, it was a bit unnerving to have everyone know me while I knew no one.

"Urthol, get the Lady of Time a good bow," Stevens ordered a man-looking thing who was in the armory.

"Greetings, Lady of Time. Greetings, Matthew Stevens. One top-quality bow coming right up." He searched through the back of the armory for a little while the came back with a beautifully crafted bow. I thought it was wonderful, but Stevens sent it back, saying I needed the best. The bow Urthol came out with after that was exquisite. True, I was no expert, but I thought it was an extremely good bow. Apparently Stevens agreed with me, because he accepted the bow.

"Alright, here's how you shoot."

We spent the rest of the night shooting the targets. Well, actually _Stevens_ shot the targets and I missed the targets. Still, I was much better at archery than I was at swordplay. After hours and hours of practice, I started to hit the center upon occasion.

"Karl, would you stay here with the Lady of Time and help her shoot? There are some things I want to attend to," Stevens asked another boy.

"Din't da' Lo'd o' Time say ya' had ta do i'?" the boy said. I found him to be extremely hard to understand.

"Yes, but I want to go do something else," Stevens said impatiently.

The boy, I guessed he was Karl, smiled. "So I' wou' be uh fav'r to ya'?"

"Yes, it would be a favor."

"So ya' wou' owe me uh fav'r?"

"Depends on what that favor is."

"Ha' ya' food fom s'pper 'night."

I found it interesting how he could pronounce the word 'food' so well, while all of his other words were mashed together.

"Half my food tonight. Done." Stevens left. I turned to the target and pulled back my arrow, determined to pay as little attention to Karl as possible.

"Me name 's K'rl. Me ha' mor'le, ha' Lav' mon'ter."

I ignored him, fitting another arrow to my bow.

"D' ya' need anythin' me can ge' ya'?"

It was obvious he just wanted my food. I continued to ignore him. _If only I could freeze him in time._ I thought wistfully.

"KIRA!!!!!!!" a huge voice that could only be my dad's boomed.

I jumped at the opportunity to get away from Karl and ran off as fast as I could to Dad's throne room, taking my bow and remaining arrows with me.

"Yes, Dad?" I asked, more than slightly breathless.

"As important as battle training is, you need to be able to control your power over time. I shall teach you how to do this," Kronos replied. "By the way, how did Matthew Stevens do training you?"

"Pretty awful," I admitted.

"I shall have him replaced immediately. Now for your training.

We spent hours and hours working on tiny little things, such as slowing down a feather as it fell. By the time Kronos dismissed me, I was exhausted.

"How did it go?" Mom inquired when I got back to the hotel room.

"Good," I replied before falling on my bed and going to sleep, without any help from Morpheus.

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**Thanks for reading! Please review! I want to know what to do to make my story better. Thanks!**


	6. The End Of Time Comes, Momentarily

Yay! The new chapter's up! Hope you all enjoy.

I want to give a special thank-you to Singerinthesilence for being my Beta. THANK-YOU THANK-YOU THANK-YOU!!!!!!!!!!

:)

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"Concentrate," Kronos instructed. "If you can focus all of your thoughts, you can do anything."

I looked at the bright blue feather and dropped it again, imagining it stopping in mid-air. It fell to the ground without so much as slowing down.

"I can't do it," I complained.

"Of course you can't," replied Kronos hotly. I looked at him, shocked. Usually he was very encouraging. "You are setting yourself up for defeat, believing you will fail. Until you decide you can, you will not succeed."

I sighed and tried again with no better results.

"Don't imagine the feather stopping, imagine _time_ stopping. Control your power, or it will control you."

I had heard that phrase over a heptillion times. Not that it helped me any.

In my mind, I pictured the feather stopping. _Not the feather, time,_ I told myself. What did Time look like? I pictured an hourglass stopping. In case you were wondering, it didn't work.

"What did you think of that time?" inquired Kronos.

I said, "An hourglass."

"An hourglass is not made of time. You only imagined the sand stopping, not Time itself. Go beyond what you can see."

"And how am I supposed to do that?" I demanded. Concentrating wasn't really my thing, and I was getting annoyed with my inabilities.

"It is different for everyone. You must find out how for yourself."

If it hadn't been my dad I was talking to I would probably have said something rather rude in response. Instead I said, "How exactly do I do that?"

"Find your inner connection," Kronos replied. "Half-Bloods were so much easier to train before they learned how to ask 'How' and 'Why'."

I attempted to look deep inside myself, but it wasn't very productive. "Are you sure this is the only way?" I asked.

"Actually, now that you mention it, there is something else we could try," Kronos answered. "Rather than focusing your power on a small object, what if you tried expanding it to cover the whole world. It's worth a shot. I wont let you over-exert yourself, so you need not worry about that."

I let my mind go blank (okay, I was actually thinking about not thinking, but you get the picture). Then I imagined the whole earth stopping in time, not movement. I allowed my mind to wonder to any aspect of the world it felt like so I wouldn't be distracted. Ocean depths, clouds, mountains, beaches, valleys, and cities. There was a rush of air and something I couldn't exactly describe. Something stirred within me. My ring grew hot, and my eyes felt strange. Time was everywhere, yet nowhere. It surrounded me, yet I surrounded it. Something was released from within me, then everything went black.

I woke up 53 minutes later. "Did it work?" I asked.

"Congratulations. It takes most students months to do that, and you've only been training for two weeks. But you over-exerted yourself. The power you released was more than you can handle, and would have killed you had I not intervened. Don't try this on your own." Kronos said, mildly impressed. "Time has resumed again, of course. Take the rest of the day off. You earned it." With that Kronos disappeared.

I spent the rest of the day in my hotel suit (Dad had gotten both Mom and I our own suits) with the feather in front of the sink, attempting to focus my energy. After about three hundred tries I was ready to give up. Then a thought occurred to me and I wanted to kick myself for not thinking of it sooner. I had been able to stop time over the whole world because I had allowed my instincts to take control, while having a large enough subject that my ADHD wouldn't get in the way. All I had to do to focus that power was to think about the feather the same way I did the world. I thought about all of the little feathers that made up the feather, and all the little feathers that made up _those_ feathers, and all the little feathers that made up _those_ feathers, and all the feathers that made up _those_ feathers. I then tossed the feather up in the air and thought about its time stopping. When I looked back at the feather, it was stopped mid-air. The mirror was behind the feather, and my ADHD self was drawn to my reflection. More specifically, my eyes. My eyes are green. Got that? Green. But what I saw in the mirror was not green. You see, my eyes were golden, the same shade as my hair. My first instinct was to scream, then I thought better of it. If the cleaning lady were to come in, she would probably be frightened out of her wits. That, or call 911.

"Um, Mom?" I called. No answer. She was probably talking with a monster or training for battle. Not knowing what to do, I sat in front of the mirror. After about five minutes the gold faded and turned back to green. My ring also cooled.

"I need to be able to control this power on short notice. A few seconds could be life or death," I said to myself.

"Lady of Time, do you want to work on knife throwing now or later?"

I turned to see an old man in my doorway.

"How did you get a key to my room?" I demanded.

"I don't have a key, I am a key," he replied and I rolled my eyes.

"Let me see your hands," I ordered. He obeyed, and I saw one of his fingers was in the shape of a key. "You must be Kleidi. You helped my father get into off-limits areas during the war between the Titans and the Gods. Mr. Rourn told me all about you in History class."

"You are correct. I am glad to hear that you are paying attention to your studies."

_More likely glad that he was mentioned,_ I thought. Aloud I said, "I'll work on knife throwing some other time. Father gave me the rest of the day off."

Kleidi bowed and left. I sighed, suddenly extremely tired.

"Morpheus, work your magic please," I prayed as I slipped into my bed. My grandfather did his job wonderfully.

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Now that you've read it, review it! If you don't have anything nice to say, give some Constructive Criticism. If you don't have CC, say something nice. I would really like it if you would say something nice. Pretty please? Also, if you were wondering why I named the key-fingered-guy (Who I made up and OWN) Kleidi, it's because 'Kleidi' is Greek for 'Key'.


	7. I Receive A 300 Dollar Allowance

Hello again everyone! The new chapter is up! Hooray!!!!!

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I jumped back, narrowly avoiding Stevens' sword.

"Counter and follow up!" he called, swinging again. I tried for his head, but he easily ducked. "Faster!"

_Easier said than done,_ I thought grumpily as I attempted to block the dozens of strikes that were coming at me. Exactly thirty-six seconds later my sword was on the ground about four feet away from Stevens' sword and me was pointed at my neck.

"Dead," he said. "I win."

"That's obvious," I pointed out. "I'm no good at sword fighting."

"Laris has taught you something two years. At least you're not holding the sword like a spear anymore."

I rolled my eyes, something I did quite often when I was around Stevens. "Why am I sparring you again?"

"Because it's good for you," Stevens replied cheerfully.

"More likely good for you."

"How so?"

"Beating me in swordplay is good for your ego, since you aren't any good at anything else."

"That's not true! I'm good at lots of things," Stevens said, offended.

"Such as…?" I asked doubtfully.

"Swordplay,"

"Besides swordplay," I reminded him.

"I'm better at public speaking than you are," he said firmly.

"I have to go to the Archery Range now. See you later." I hurried away. Stevens was right. Public speaking wasn't really my thing, but he was great at it.

"Kira, may I join you?" a tall, thin girl asked, her voice dark and eerie.

"Certainly, Ashley. I'm going to the Archery Range," I answered. Ashley was one of the few people who didn't call me "Lady of Time". It was actually kind of nice to have someone to just talk to.

"How did sword fighting go?" inquired Ashley as we walked. I grunted in reply, not really wanting to talk about it. "I was wondering if you would like to go shopping with me later today. My mom's coming here in a couple of days, and I want to look my best. Afterwards we can go see a movie."

"That sounds great. How about two O'clock? That would work for me," I suggested.

Ashley agreed readily. "I would love to go shoot with you, but there's some things I need to get ready for Mom. There's some Litai loose which may interfere with her powers of Delusion. See ya!"

I watched my friend dash off. It almost seemed as though she was flying. I shook my head. Obviously it was her the powers she had gotten from her mother Ate, the Goddess of Delusion, playing tricks on my eyes.

When I got to the Archery Range no one else was there. That was fine with me, because then I got first pick of the targets. I chose the round moving target at seventy meters. Pulling back my sting, I focused only on shooting: anchor point, stance, sighting, and relaxing my shoulders. There was a twang as my bowstring snapped back to its usual position and my arrow shot forward. I shot my 9 other arrows, then went to retrieve them. 8 of them were in the very center and the other two were tree away from the center. While my sword fighting hadn't improving much in the two years I had been training, my archery certainly had. It was partly due to natural talent and partly due to hour upon hours of practice. I loved archery and spent a good deal of my time working on it.

"Lady Kira, Lord Kronos would like to see you," a small, cat-like creature informed me.

I sighed and started toward the throne room.

"Yes, Dad?" I inquired when I got there.

"Kira," Kronos said. He was almost solid now; only about ten more Half-Bloods to go. "Would you like to go on another Expedition?"

"When and what for?" I asked. I had gone on many Expeditions over the past two years, and there were some things that I didn't like to do. Baby-sit Half-Bloods, for instance. Since Kronos never made me go on any Expedition I didn't want to anymore, I always found out as something about it before I went.

"There's a group of Half-Bloods in North Dakota that need rescuing," replied Kronos. "Two are children of Apollo and three are children of Hermes. They have all agreed to join us, but their guide was killed. They are all eleven years old, so none of them can drive. I want you to go pick them up and bring them here. My best guess is that a Cyclopes is chasing them, so if you can drive you will easily be able to outrun it. The Expedition should take about three or four days, depending on how long it takes you to find them. Will you do it?"

"Can I go tomorrow?"

"Why?" Kronos asked.

"I promised Ashley that I would go to a movie and then go shopping with her," I answered.

"You consider shopping more important than saving Half-Bloods? Kira, there are _five Demigods_ who need yours help, and you just want to go _shopping?_" Kronos demanded.

"They aren't going to die today. I can get up there in just a couple of hours if I use the De Express Line. It will be a quick, easy-in easy-out job," I answered calmly. While I couldn't talk in front of a crowd, talking in front of my dad never seemed to be much of a problem.

"The Cyclopes is close on their trail. You don't have long to waste. Will you sacrifice the lives of five Half-Bloods so you can go on a shopping trip with your friend?"

I smiled sweetly. "How about I go shopping with Ashley, then go on the Expedition tonight. The Demigods won't die between now and then. I should be done with the whole thing by tomorrow morning."

Kronos didn't reply at once. Finally he said (though clearly he still didn't really like the delay), "Fine, just be on the De Express Line by five O'clock sharp."

"Done," I agreed. Then I asked, "is my license still valid? I haven't been to North Dakota since last summer."

"Technically you still live in North Dakota you are just on vacation."

To that I replied something like, "Oh." You see, in North Dakota you can get your license when you're only fourteen years and six months old, which is totally awesome. My dad bought me a fabulous car the day I was old enough to drive it on my own. It's metallic gold, shaped like a racecar and can go up to two hundred and fifty miles per hour. Personally I think it's the coolest car ever.

"Kira, do you need some cash for shopping?" Kronos asked me.

"Yeah, that would be great," I answered. Kronos tossed me a bundle of cash. I counted it quickly: Three hundred dollars. Not bad for an allowance. "Thanks, Dad!"

I ran off to go find Ashley. As I looked more closely at the money, I saw that there was a note attached. It was written in Ancient Greek, which was much easier for me to read. For some reason my dyslexia didn't bother me when I was reading Ancient Greek.

_Kayla—Black hair, green eyes. Daughter of Hermes. Age 11._

_Jake—Longish yellow hair, blue eyes. Son of Apollo. Age 11._

_Louis—Dark brown hair, brown eyes. Son of Hermes. Age 11._

_Samantha—Curly blond hair, bright blue eyes. Daughter of Apollo. Age 11._

_Juan—Dark hair, tanned skin, black eyes. Son of Hermes. Age 11._

I figured it was a list of the Half-Bloods I was going to go rescue. I read over them a couple of times, then put the note away. I could memorize them later.

"Kira!" Ashley called. "You ready to go now?"

"Yeah, um, Ashley,"

"You can still come, can't you?" she asked, worry coming through her voice.

"Yes, but only shopping. I can't go to the movie. Sorry. I have an Expedition."

"Oh, that's fine. I'm not really big into movies anyway."

"Come on, we've got a lot of shopping to do!"

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**Now PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!! Thank-you. It makes me feel all good inside when I get reviews. **


	8. I Give 5 Random Demigods A Ride

Chapter 8

This is my longest chapter so far. 2176 words! It's my new record.

Thank you Singerinthesilence for being my wonderful, faithful Beta. My story would not be the same without you!

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"Be careful, Kira," Mom said as I climbed into my gold car.

"Of course I will, Mom. It's an easy Expedition anyway," I pointed out. I started up my car and switched into –1st gear. I had had some alteration done to my car so that I could have –1s gear, which allowed me to go up to five hundred miles per hour. Totally awesome. The time was 4:59pm. I was early.

"Don't speed," Mom ordered sternly.

I smiled. "I won't. I promise." There is no such thing as a speed limit on the De Express Line. It goes over the United States above even the tallest buildings so that we can get anywhere in the U.S. in a matter of minutes. To normal mortals, it's not even there.

"Kira, get the demigods and get back here. No extra detours," Mom commanded.

"Of course," I replied happily. I loved driving on the De Express Line, though I only got to when I was on an Expedition. Good incentive to go on Expeditions. I blew a kiss to my mom and then sped off.

Signs whizzed past. 'NEVADA', 'UTAH', 'WYOMING', 'SOUTH DAKOTA', they read. After two hours and thirty-six minutes I got to North Dakota.

"Where are those demigods?" I asked myself. Then I saw the dead give-away. A Cyclopes, approximately forty feet tall, was standing next to a swimming pool. Since giant Cyclopes' don't tend to be the best swimmers, I figured that that was where the Demigods had to be.

"Hey, you tall guy over there! How about you pick on someone your own size!" I shouted at the Cyclopes. He turned and looked for me.

When he had spotted me (it wasn't that hard, seeing as I was standing in the middle of an open plain) he said, "Like you?"

I compared our size briefly. I was about 5feet, 6inches, and he was about forty feet. Not exactly what I would call comparable size but hey, I wasn't making the rules.

"You're such a big dummy that you probably can't even take me on, and I'm only an eighth of your height!" I taunted. He charged me, but it was no problem for me. He really was a pretty big dummy. I fought harder monsters in the _training_ arena.

I held my ground until he was nearly upon me, then jumped up, using his rough skin as a ladder. He swiped at me and tried to get me off of him, but I was quick and evaded him. I would have frozen him in time, but he was far too big. Normal mortals were easy to freeze. Giant Cyclopes, not so much.

"Look out below!" I called to the demigods as I stabbed the Cyclopes in the eye. He disintegrated, leaving nothing below me as I fell. Why do I always forget about that part? Fortunately I landed in the pool.

I turned and saw the raged group of Half-Bloods. They looked as though they had swum in a nasty lake and then rolled around in the mud. In other words, they needed a bath.

"Wow," one of the demigods said in awe. By his appearance I guessed he was Jake.

"Who are you?" one of the girls–Kayla—asked suspiciously.

"I am Kira Sorrel. I came here to save you. You are the demigods who wanted to join up with Kronos, yes?" I inquired as sweetly as I could while being as out of breath as I was.

"Yes, we want to join Kronos and his army," the girl that had to be Samantha answered authoritatively.

"You must be Samantha," I guessed.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"My father told me."

The boy who had to be Juan asked, "Who is your father?"

I replied, "My father is Kronos, Lord of Time."

There was a moment of silence. Okay, it was about eight seconds long, but it seemed like an eternity. Finally I spoke up. "We need to get back before more monsters come. My car is over here."

"This car is totally awesome!" Jake exclaimed when he saw my car. "Can I drive?"

I gave him a withering look. "No."

"Please?"

"You're eleven years old. There's no way I'm going to let you drive my car, let alone on the De Express Line. The answer is definitely No," I replied firmly.

"Aw," Samantha said sarcastically. "Get in the car. No complaints, Jake."

I climbed over the door and into the driver's seat. "Everybody buckled?" I inquired.

"Yes," everyone replied.

"Jake, buckle up," Kayla ordered dryly. He grumbled a bit, but obeyed.

I started up the engine. "Get ready. We're going to go _fast_," I warned them.

"Nothing faster than I've gone before," Louis commented.

I smiled. He had no idea. I pushed the accelerator all the way down. I put the cruise control on when I made it to five hundred miles per hour.

Usually I'm not the impatient type, but I could not wait for that ride to get over. Samantha was riding shotgun, which was okay, but the boys in the back shouted the whole was home. Fortunately it was only two hours and thirty-six minutes.

"Here we are," I announced happily when we finally made it back.

"That was totally awesome!" Juan exclaimed. "Can I take it for a cruise sometime?"

"No." How many times was I going to have to say that before these Half-Bloods understood?

"Please?"

"Juan, the definition of the word 'No' is 'absolutely not going to happen; zero chance'. There, now that you know that, stop asking!" Kayla said, sounding even more exasperated than I was.

"Come on Sis, the car is totally sweet!"

Kayla just rolled her eyes at him and turned to me. "Sorry about my brother. He can be a bit of a pain upon occasion."

I smiled sympathetically. "He should get along great with Stevens, then."

"Lady of Time," a human-looking, butler guy began, "would you like me to escort these new demigods to the Training Arena?"

"You guys ready for training?" I asked, trying to make it sound like a challenge so that they would accept. Of course, they all did. To the butler guy I said, "Yes, that would be splendid."

When the demigods were gone, I went in search of Ashley. Even though not much had happened, I wanted to tell her about the Expedition.

"Have you seen Ashley, daughter of Ate?" I inquired of a food server.

"I believe she is in her room, Lady of Time," the girl answered shyly.

"Thank-you." I said before I hurried away toward Ashley's rooms.

When I reached then I called, "Ashley?"

"Who's there?" a quavering voice demanded.

"It's me, Kira," I answered, confused. Ashley was not the nervous, frightened type.

"Oh, thank goodness it's you, Kira!" Ashley cried as she rushed out to great me, her voice shaking in fear. "I need your help. Mother won't help Kronos steal the two horns that have unlimited Nectar and Ambrosia, so he wants to kidnap her and force her to do it!"

"Steal the horns? Why not? She's always helped him before," I pointed out.

"This is different. You see, Mother can sense it when there are Litai, and she can sense it when people are using deception, deceit, lies, delusion, and illusion. Kronos hid his well, but Mother has found out that everything he has promised is a lie. You have to help me help her! If you don't, I just know something bad is going to happen to her."

"Ashley, calm down. I'm sure this isn't what you think it is," I soothed. It couldn't be that Kronos was wrong. He had to be right. I knew he was. I knew he was!

"No! I know what I heard! If Ate hadn't used her strongest powers to escape, Kronos would have her in prison by now! _She is not safe._"

"Are you sure?" I inquired, my thoughts spinning.

"Yes," Ashley replied as firmly as she could in her state of fear.

"I have to go. There's some new Half-Bloods. By now they are probably in the Training Arena," I said slowly and uncertainly as I backed away. There was no was Ashley could be right, was there?

When I was out of Ashley's room I ran. I didn't really care where I went; I just had to get away from the confusion. My confusion.

I stopped by a fountain carved like the Sphinx. The water splashed on me but I didn't care. I stood there, numbly, for some time. I didn't even bother to keep track.

"Insert one golden drachma."

I jumped. "What?"

"Insert one golden drachma," the voice repeated. It was coming from the fountain.

Startled, pulled out a drachma and tossed it into the fountain. It disappeared the moment it touched the misty water.

"Mother, did you make her pay?" a different voice asked. It sounded like it was coming _through_ the fountain.

"No," the original voice replied indignantly.

"Yes, you did. Mother, you told me that I got free, unlimited messages," the girl on the other side of the fountain reminded.

"Fine," the fountain-girl relented reluctantly.

My coin reappeared from the water.

"Thanks," I said uncertainly. "Um, who are you?"

"I am Iris, goddess of rainbows," the fountain-girl said with all of the innocence of a child.

"And I am Jazzel. Do you remember me? We were friends in school. We last saw each other in sixth grade," the other girl answered. Slowly an image of Jazzel appeared in the water. It looked a bit like it would if we were talking on Skype.

"Jazzel? Of course I remember you! You were friends with both the popular kids and the not-so-popular kids. Sort of like the go-between. What have you been up to?" I inquired, thankful to have a distraction from my current problems.

"Kira, I've been trying to find you for two years. When I found out you were the daughter of Kronos I tried to contact you. You have to listen to me. Kronos is evil. He's out to destroy civilization!" Jazzel's words came out as a desperate rush.

"But he only wants to overthrow the gods. The gods who don't care what happens to humans, only what happens to themselves," I said, trying to convince myself more than her.

"Listen, Kronos has been lying to you. The gods do care about humans. Kronos wants to make the entire human race his slaves. Is that what you want?" Jazzel asked.

"You don't know Kronos," I protested. "He's not like that."

"Then what is he like? Everything he's done has been to promote himself. He even swallowed his kids! You're lucky he didn't swallow you, too. You have to leave him," Jazzel pleaded. "Please, come find me. I'm in New York. I can help you. Please, come." The image faded and Jazzel disappeared.

"Wait," I said. "I'm confused. I don't understand."

There was no response. I buried my head in my arms and cried. I just wanted everything to go back to normal. My dad couldn't be so bad. I just knew he couldn't. Why did people keep telling me he was? People that I trusted.

Finally I decided to go talk to Ashley a bit. I owed her an apology for running out the way I did, and I was hoping she could help me figure everything out. I went to her rooms, but she wasn't there. _She must have left, either to find me or to figure things out for herself,_ I decided.

I asked everyone I saw if they had seen Ashley, but no one had. Finally I went to see Kronos about it.

"Dad, do you know where Ashley is?" I asked as innocently as I could. After all, what did I have to be ashamed of?

"Ashley, daughter of Ate, has been imprisoned," Kronos answered.

I gasped. "What? Why?"

"For treason and supporting our enemies. Her mother, Ate, betrayed me and fled, and Ashley refuses to help me find her," replied Kronos.

"Oh," I said as calmly as I could. "I did not realize that. It makes sense now." I turned to leave.

"Kira, I know this is hard for you. I truly am sorry. How about you take the day off?" Kronos suggested. He really did sound sincere.

"Okay," I replied softly. I left as quickly as I could.

In my room, I pondered what I could do. There was no way I could attempt a prison break: the guards would never let Ashley go no matter what I said. And maybe Kronos was telling the truth and Ashley really was a traitor. I lay on my bed, indecisive. Either path, if wrong, could be disastrous. I didn't want to leave my friend in danger, but I didn't want to let loose a traitor, either. I went over all that I had been told by Jazzel and Ashley in the past few hours. They both seemed to agree that Kronos was evil. Were they right? Was my father a tyrant?

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Aw, poor Kira. She's so confused. Maybe later things will get better. Or maybe they wont… Thanks for reading, and Please Review. If you review, I will feel more inclined to update.


	9. I Cause A Problem And Delay The Backup

"Good job, Kira," Kronos praised me after I came back from another Expedition. He was now almost solid, something that would have thrilled me only a few weeks ago but now worried me.

"Thanks," I replied half-heartedly. I had brought three Half-Bloods safely back, but they hadn't even been being chased by a monster. Not a lot to be proud of, and there were many other things on my mind. For starters, there were now only two Half-Bloods until Kronos would be ready to rise.

"Kira, what's wrong?" Kronos asked, sounding concerned.

"Nothing," I muttered. I couldn't exactly tell him what I had heard, now could I?

Kronos did not look convinced, but he let the subject drop. He probably figured some minor thing was bothering me, not the fate of the world, and he was obviously excited about something else. "I have a present for you," he said.

"What is it?" I inquired, trying to sound more cheerful. I failed miserably.

Kronos, motioning for a servant-monster to bring forth a package, did not seem to notice my lack of enthusiasm. "Here," he said sounding much happier than I felt as I took the box.

I opened it, not really all that excited about it. There wasn't really a lot that could be inside it that would help me right now. When I had succeeded in pulling off the pink paper I gasped. Inside the box were the two horns that had a never-ending stream of Nectar and Ambrosia.

I stood gaping at the two horns for several moments before I finally managed to say in shock, "How did you get these? I thought that Ate wouldn't help."

"She finally agreed to help when she remembered who we are working to defeat," Kronos answered triumphantly. "Do you like them?"

"Like them? I love them! Thank-you so much, Dad!" I exclaimed, tremendously relieved. I had been right all along. Ate had been wrong, and had realized it.

"Kira, there's a demigod in Northern California who needs a ride. Would you be willing to do it?" Kronos inquired.

"Of course. Then there will be only one more to go," I replied, actually happy again. I hurried off to go get ready. Ashley would have to agree that she had been wrong now that her mother had realized it.

"Lady of Time," a boy of about seventeen years whose name I could not remember said somewhat cautiously as I walked past. I stopped and turned my attention to him. I was in a good enough mood to listen to just about anyone right now.

"Yes?"

"I want to prove myself, but the Lord of Time never sends me on any Expeditions," he explained. I tried to remember what his name was, but all I could come up with was it had something to do with pointy objects. "Would you tell His Lordship? Maybe suggest me for an Expedition?"

"What's your name?" I asked, hoping he would not be offended by my ignorance.

"James Spike, your Ladyship," he replied proudly.

_James Spike,_ I repeated in my mind, trying to memorize it. "What is your immortal connection?"

"My dad is Atlas," he answered just as proudly.

"Good, I'll tell Kronos. I'll see if you can take over my Expedition," I said casually, in the tone of voice people used to comment on pleasant weather.

"Really?" he asked, slightly astonished and his eyes full of hope.

"Spike, if I didn't mean it why would I say it?" I asked dryly.

"Sorry, Lady of Time," James Spike said, a hint of worry coming into his voice that he might have ruined his chances at impressing Kronos. When I did not retract my offer he added, "Thank-you so much!" and then hurried to prepare for his soon-to-be Expedition.

I smiled as the ecstatic boy left, and then headed back to see Kronos. It was a very good day for me now that I was sure Kronos was on the right side, and I was happy that someone else was enjoying it as well. I attempted to opened the doors to the throne room grandly, but because they were so heavy all I opened them pitifully slow.

"What is it, Kira?" Kronos inquired when I had managed to open the doors wide enough for me to slip through.

I quickly explained to him that James Spike really wanted to go on an Expedition, and so I thought he could take mine. Kronos looked at me skeptically.

"Kira, how can I send James Spike on this extremely important Expedition. I can't trust him as much as I trust you. Think what success will mean. _Only one more demigod to go._ Failure or betrayal is not an option. I can't trust anyone except you with it," Kronos said.

Yeah, because I have never doubted you, I thought sarcastically, but I didn't say it aloud. Instead I reminded him,"Spike wants to prove himself to you, and he is the son of your brother. He'll do fine."

Kronos sighed in resignation. "If you want to stay home, you may."

I looked up at him, surprised. Usually he wasn't that easy to persuade. I almost asked 'Really?', then remembered my response to Spike when he said that.

Kronos continued, "I figure you want to catch up with your friend Ashley. Unless I am mistaken, which is unlikely, she is in her room.

"Thank-you!" I called as I ran out to find her.

Spike was back in the hall with an over-sized pack filled with way more than he was going to need. I smiled at him. Everyone over-packs for their first Expedition. He asked impatiently, "Well?"

"Go see Kronos. He'll give you the details. Good luck on your first Expedition, and don't mess up," I replied somewhat sternly, yet smiling at his stunned excitement. I then hurried past to find Ashley. I ran through several long hallways, wondering if they had gotten longer since I had last traversed them. It seemed to take much longer than usual to get to Ashley's room, but that was probably because I was so excited. When I finally reached her rooms, I stopped to catch my breath. To my surprise, I heard sobbing coming from inside the room.

"Ashley?" I said uncertainly as I pushed open the creaky door and entered. She was laying on her bed, face-down.

"Kira, you have to help me," she sobbed into her pillow.

"Ashley, it's over," I explained rapidly. "Ate realized she was wrong and has returned to Kronos. She even helped him to steal the Horns of Plenty."

"No!" Ashley exclaimed forcefully, rising halfway from her bed so she could look at me. "Mom did not 'realize she was wrong'. What she realized was that I was in grave danger! Kronos threatened me to get her to help him. I can't leave, but if I stay I will be in grave danger."

"But-but Dad told me that she came by herself," I protested, desperate to hold on to the hope that I had not spent the last two years of my life working for a villain.

"He told you, but he lied," Ashley said. "Kronos is using me to make Mom do as he says. I'm being kept prisoner, so that Mom cannot start a rebellion or warn the gods. If you are still my friend, you will help me escape. Do you know how we can get out of here? There are not many exits from the Underworld."

"Dad would never let me leave the Palace with you, let alone the Underworld. He only lets me out when I go on Expeditions," I pointed out helplessly. "What can I do?"

"What about when we went shopping? We left then, didn't we?" Ashley reminded me desperately.

"No, we went to the UnderMall, which, as you might guess, is located in the Underworld. We never even left the Underworld," I replied glumly.

"There has to be some way we can escape," Ashley cried.

I shifted my weight from foot to foot, uncomfortable. "There is one way, but it's very dangerous."

"Tell me," Ashley said solemnly, drying her eyes.

My recently discovered worst fears were being realized. Kronos, my dad, was evil. If I was wrong, there would be not coming back. I took a deep breath and said to Ashley, "A long time ago, a man called Orpheus played his way into the Underworld to save his beloved wife Eurydice. Unfortunately, it was one of those 'don't-look-back-or-else' deals, and Orpheus looked back and Eurydice was forced to go back to the Underworld. That is the only other way out I know of," I replied, just as serious. "You can play flute, so it's up to you to charm our way out. I am by no stretch of the imagination a musical person. Wait for me behind the PAC-Man Arcade Machine in the Drako Drakon Hotel. I'll be there as soon as I can, but there's something I have to do first. Get ready to start playing your sweetest piece the second I get there. Most likely we will not have a very discreet exit."

"What will you be doing?" Ashley asked, looking worried.

"I'm going to do my best to make sure there is nothing Kronos can do to stop us," I answered grimly.

Ashley nodded uneasily, but did not ask for specifics. "Make sure to bring money," she reminded me. "Both Drachmas and cash. I don't have any anymore. Bring as little else as you can. Take your ring. I'm taking my sash."

"Of course," I responded automatically. "See you soon. Be ready!"

I left without another word. Spike was probably back with the demigod by now. It had been an easy Expedition, after all. I was shaking a little with nervousness. What I was about to do would change the course of the world. Not exactly what I would call a calm experience.

It was a custom of mine to go see the Coffin that the body of Kronos rested in whenever a new demigod swore allegiance. Recently I had been going more often since Kronos would soon be able to rise. I decided I had to go there now, but for a completely different reason than usual.

Each step I took seemed to be harder than the last, and slower. I kept wondering if I really was doing the right thing or if I was about to destroy the real salvation of the world. After two long, dark hallways I tried to stop thinking about it. Finally I reached the two huge, intricately carved doors. Each of the dozen or so guards standing watch gave me a small bow. Hey, I never said it was a bad deal being the daughter of the king.

"Has the new demigod sworn himself in yet?" I asked one of the guards, letting a little excited impatients creep into my voice.

"Yes, Lady of Time," he replied in a respectful tone, also sounding a little excited.

"Then I must see the Golden Coffin," I decided firmly. The guards hurried to unlock the many locks on the door and then slowly push it open. I entered the fairly small room that housed Kronos' coffin as calmly as I could. Keeping myself from touching my ring and getting my Sai so I would not give myself away too soon, I walked with brisk determination to the golden Coffin. Finally, when I stood over the coffin looking in, I touched my ring and my Sai appeared in my hands. My breathing was rapid. Was this right? Could I do it? I looked at the piece of Kronos that I had caused to come up from Tartarus; it was just over his heart. I raised one of my Sai over my head, and then paused for a split second.

"Lady of Time…?" a guard began cautiously, taking a step forward.

I ignored him. Yes. I had to do this. There was no backing out now. Kronos was evil, and he was going to hurt my friend and who knew else if I did not stop him. I stabbed my Sai downward, straight into his heart. A terrible pain shot up my arms, causing me to let out a sharp cry of pain. Nearly blindingly bright golden light shone forth from the coffin as the body disintegrated.

"NO!" a banshee-like voice screeched, filling my ears with the horrible noise. I could not tell if it was coming from inside my head or outside. I covered my ears, but it did not help at all. I felt like screaming myself, if only I could escape the horrible death-cry of Kronos.

The shout of a guard pulled me from my agony. "It was her! The Lady of Time has killed Kronos!" He and several other guards charged me. I slipped around them and did what I thought best at the time: I ran, as fast as I possibly could, to the Draco-Dracon Hotel. I ran through hall after winding hall, trying to figure out the fastest way to the Arcade room by looking at the signs as I zipped past them. As I ran I glanced over my shoulder at the monsters behind me, and saw that they had significantly increased in number. I tried to remember what floor the Arcade room was on and then came to a sign that had an arrow pointing up by some stairs that said 'Arcade Room, 4th Floor'. Instantly I threw open the door to the stairs and began my rapid assent. After about 80 steps up I burst onto the fourth floor and followed the little white arrows to the Arcade room. When I reached it I ran to the PAC-man machine, hoping that all the monsters there would think I was just impatient to play the game. I heard the monsters that were chasing me burst into the room only moments after I had turned the first corner. I made it to isle four, on the left and saw Ashley waiting for me, a look of terror and confusion on her face.

"Just play. I'll explain later," I panted before she could ask about the dozen or so monsters who were only a few meters behind me. Ashley obediently began to play her flute. It was a gorgeous sound, crisp and distinct, completely out of place in the midst of the chaos and shouting monsters.

Part of the wall opened up and I started through. "Don't look back, whatever you do," I warned one last time, though I knew that Ashley knew that.

"Get her!" a monster called when he saw the gaping hole to the Land of the Living. We ran faster. It was a long tunnel, and I could barely see the dim light that came from the Other Side. My ring glowed and my eyes burned as I slowed the time for the monsters. Kronos could do nothing to stop me from messing with time, because I had dealt him a devastating blow when I destroyed his almost-finished body. He would not recover from that quickly.

My steps slowed as I grew more and more tired. Slowing time was taking more from me than it usually did, though I did not take the time or effort to even think about why. _Just a few more steps,_ I thought to myself desperately, my mind clouding with exhaustion.

"Stop playing!" I ordered as we crossed the invisible border between the Underworld and the Land of the Living. Ashley instantly obeyed, cutting off her song mid-note. The tunnel snapped shut with a zipping sound, crushing any monsters that had been inside. I slumped to the ground and released the monsters, fatigue overtaking me.

"Come on, Kira," Ashley urged fearfully. She grabbed my arm and pulled me back up, keeping my balance for me as I swayed.

"Thank you," I murmured sleepily, my eyes half closed. "We need to get to the railroad. I have the money for tickets."

"Okay," she replied quietly, helping me stand straight. "Let's get going."

"Just a sec," I said, pulling out one of the Horns of Plenty I was still carrying. A few cubes of Ambrosia fell out and I ate them eagerly. Taking a deep breath as strength flowed into me and finished, "Alright. Now let's go."

Because of the Ambrosia I was able to run as fast as Ashley, but I knew the effects would wear off soon. All I had to do was make it to the railroad, and then I could rest. Until then I would just have to hope that the Ambrosia was enough to get me to the station.

I looked over my shoulder as I ran, but I saw no monsters. I could not decide whether that was a good or a bad thing, so I ran faster. Apparently Ashley was of the same opinion because she did the same, a slight glint of uncertain panic in her eyes. It was ten minutes to the railroad station, an agonizingly long time. When we reached it I ran up to the ticket booth where a bored, tired-looking guy stood. He looked at me as if I was an extreme annoyance and a complete inconvenience, but he didn't say anything rude.

"Two tickets to the nearest airport on the next train, please," I said breathlessly to the ticket guy.

"Um, that will be, let me see... um, oh yes, uh, here it is. That will be, let me see... thirty dollars," he said slowly, slurring his words together. He printed off a couple of tickets at a painstakingly slow pace, and then slowly pushed them through the little slit under the foggy glass. I paid without a word, Ashley took the tickets and we hurried off to catch our train.

"Okay, what happened back in the Underworld and why were all those monsters chasing you?" Ashley demanded once we were seated on the train.

"Later," I said anxiously, casting nervous glances at the other passengers. "We will have to go by air, on the fastest flight to Manhattan. Kronos," I said the name very quietly, "will not dare send his minions into the dominion of You Know Who. They would be blasted out of the sky."

"Why should we go to Manhattan? There are probably better places for us to hide," Ashley inquired somewhat suspiciously. Then again, she had good reason to wonder about everything since I had not let her in on the plan I was coming up with as we went.

"I have a friend there who will help me," I replied definitely, unable to keep the hint of sadness out of my voice. Ashley noticed and decided not to question me on it, and we fell into a heavy silence.

The train started and we both heaved a sigh of relief. I knew for a fact that there were no monsters working on that train, which was why I had chosen it. Since there was nothing else I could really do while we road, I pondered what had happened. I had killed my dad. Actually, since Kronos was immortal, I hadn't actually killed him, just forced him to start over with regaining strength and escaping from Tartarus. He had once told me that each Half-Blood could only swear their allegiance once, so I knew I had dealt him a serious blow. It would be years before Kronos would gain the strength to even begin taking a solid form again.

"Kira," Ashley began tentatively.

"No, not Kira. Call me...Karla," I interrupted, and then laughed at my own foolishness. "Yeah, as if that would do a bit of good. Never mind. All it will do is make things harder, trying to keep up false identities. What was it that you were saying?"

"Well, I was wondering how exactly we are going to get from the railroad to the airport before the monsters catch up with us."

Oh yeah, that. I had not given it any thought, so I cleared my throat to give myself a second to think. "We will run," I decided, hoping it was a good choice. "No cabs are safe, since so many of them are driven by monsters. I will separate the amount of cash needed for the plane tickets so that it will go faster. It's an expensive plane, but it's going out today to Manhattan," I explained, pointing to a flight in a magazine I had found on the train.

"I'll help you," Ashley offered eagerly, obviously desperate to do something useful. I handed her a stack of cash and began to count out my own. It took us four times of counting each to make sure that the number of dollars was right, but finally we got it. I stashed the money away, settled into my seat as comfortably as I could and tried to relax The only thing breaking the silence was the quiet hum of other passengers talking and the sounds of the train as we hurried to away from the Underworld.


	10. Zeus Does Not Blast Me Out Of The Sky

**Chapter 10! Wow, this story is coming along quite quickly. Enjoy!  
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The train stayed exactly on schedule, for which I was very grateful. Every now and then I had to eat some Ambrosia or drink some Nectar, because I was still slowing time for the monsters that were chasing us. Particularly the ones that could fly or could run faster than a train.

"Um, Karla, don't you think you had probably better stop eating that stuff? If you eat too much, you'll go up in flames," Ashley suggested as I ate another piece of Ambrosia, her voice full of concern.

I sighed and stopped slowing time. "You're probably right. I've already had more than most demigods can stand."

"How can you still be alive then?" Ashley asked, a little confused and a little worried.

"Because I'm not really a Half-Blood, I'm a Three-Quarter-Blood or something like that. My mom is a demigod, so I inherited some of the traits she inherited from her dad Morpheus," I explained.

"Oh," Ashley said, surprised. "Well, here's our stop."

We got off and hurried toward the airport, which was within walking distance.

"Asholyn, could you use your powers of delusion to make my eyes not appear to turn gold?" I inquired hopefully.

"Yes," she replied firmly. "I'll do it when we get on the plane. I will be able to concentrate better there."

I pulled out two first-class tickets which I had printed out from my iPhone and handed one to Ashley. She took it and we walked up to the ticket lady.

"Here," I said as bravely as I could, handing her my ticket.

The lady looked us over and then replied dryly, "Sorry, but you have to have an adult with you to fly on our airline."

I looked at Ashley for help. She smiled and answered the ticket lady, "Our mom is right here." She motioned to a lady I hadn't even noticed before. Our 'mother' smiled broadly and handed the ticket lady her ticket. After ripping all three tickets, she handed them back.

"Alright then. Here are your tickets back," the lady said, smiling. We took our tickets and went to the security. Our 'mother' went to a security line that was empty. We headed to a different one that was also empty. I walked through the metal detectors, holding my breath.

_**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**_

The security man smiled apologetically as he came over.

"Let me see your ring. I think that's what set it off," he said. I did as he instructed, then walked back through the metal detector. Nothing happened, so the security guard handed me back my ring.

"Thank you" I said quietly and quickly put my ring on. Ashley walked through without incident.

It was not a busy day for the airport, so we managed to get on to the plane relatively quickly.

"Would you like some Nectar?" I inquired when we were 'comfortably' seated.

"No, thank you," she answered brightly. "I didn't even have to use my powers of delusion to do that."

"You didn't?" I inquired, surprised. The fact that she spoke so openly of her powers worried me, as any random person could overhear us.

"No. All I had to do was manipulate the Mist. It was really easy, and the ticket lady was not really all that interested in us, so as soon as it appeared we had a parent with us she was ready to let us go," Ashley explained, making it all sound so obvious. "Now let me work on making it so that your eyes don't change to gold when you play with time."

I assented, so she began. Facing me, she mumbled something under her breath and made small motions with her hands.

"There," she said after a moment. "Your eyes should not change color anymore. Tell me when when you want me to end the spell. And could I have a little Ambrosia?"

I readily gave her some, knowing that the spell she had just placed on me took a huge amount of energy.

"Do you think we should give an offering to You Know Who for safe passage through the sky?" Ashley asked, once again perked up.

I thought for a moment. I half hoped that we could get by unnoticed, yet half knew that it would be taking a huge chance. Either way, if Zeus wasn't satisfied then we would probably be electrocuted. The King of the Gods likes to throw lightning bolts at whoever displeases him. Finally I answered, "You're probably right."

"_Probably _right?" Ashley asked incredulously.

"Okay, definitely right," I corrected myself. "But what can we offer him?"

"How about some N and A?" suggested Ashley.

"That would hardly be a generous enough offering, seeing as we have an unlimited supply, " I pointed out.

Ashley nodded in agreement. She cocked her head to one side as she thought. Suddenly she said, "You brought your bow, right?"

"Yeah, I think," I answered a bit uncertainly. "But it's the best bow ever made by the forces of..." my voice faltered for a moment, then I finished, "Dad's forces."

"That's why it would be such a great offering."

"You're right. I'll check my bag." I started digging around in my small bag.

Ashley said, "um, Kir— Karla, I don't think that your bow is in that bag. It's way too big to fit."

"Oh, I keep all sorts of stuff in here. It was given to me by Anance, the Titan of Necessity. It holds a lot more than it looks like it does because she made it. She told me that it is necessary to have a good bag, so she gave me this. I have to agree with her: it does come in handy quite often." By the time I finished explaining to Ashley about the bag I had pulled out my bow. I sighed as I looked at it. "It's a good bow, but it's a little too long for me anyway." I said it mostly to cheer myself up, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how little the bow meant to me. The golden hourglasses engraved along the arms of the bow linked it to the time I had spent under Kronos.

"I'm ready," I said determinedly. "Let's offer this thing in the bathroom. For some reason I think that the flight attendants won't appreciate it if we start a fire."

"There's other ways to offer something than burning it," Ashley pointed out.

"What ways?" I asked, interested.

"You can say who it's for and do the whole 'please give me safe passage' thing, then leave it where no one will take it. The god you intended it for will come by shortly and pick it up if it's deemed worthy," answered Ashley matter-of-factly.

I liked that idea better (no fire, so less chance of getting kicked off the plane) so we did it. We left the bow under the sink and behind all of the cleaning supplies in the bathroom. I desperately hoped that the cleaning lady wouldn't do her job for a while, since I figured a bow might seem a bit odd.

Just after we had sat back down the flight attendant told everyone to buckle up, as the plane would be rising shortly. When we were in the air I sighed in relief. We had made our offering and the plane was on it's way. No monster would dare get on the plane (the whole Zeus-throws-lightning-bolts-at-whoever-he-doesn't-like thing). At least until we got to Manhattan, we were safe.

Boy was I wrong.

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**Thanks for reading. Reviewing might be a good idea... (hint hint)  
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	11. I Practice Skydiving—Without A Parachute

**Hey, everybody! Thanks for reading, and please review! Also, I wanted to thank my beta reader Singeringthesilence for being so amazing and making my story better. **

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"What on earth is a giant screwdriver doing under the sink?" a surprised and more than slightly annoyed voice called from the bathroom.

I looked up from the book I was reading (in ancient Greek), surprised. A screwdriver? When I had put the bow under the sink I hadn't noticed any giant screwdrivers. And a giant screwdriver isn't exactly the kind of thing you miss.

The cleaning lady stormed angrily out of the bathroom, answering my unasked question. In her hand was my -Zeus's- bow. "That bothersome technician has been messing with my supplies again. He's too lazy to even put his own screwdriver away! If I ever get my hands on him, I'll—I'll—"

The cleaning lady didn't say what she planned to do to the technician who had supposedly put the 'giant screwdriver' under the sink. Ashley giggled softly at the scene.

"How can you find that funny?" I asked sharply. In a hushed whisper I added, "Now how will He get his offering?"

"Giant screwdriver? How can you not find that funny? Oh, it won't be a problem for Zeus. He can just drop by the plane in the guise of a technician, pick through the screwdrivers, and take the one that looks the most like a bow," Ashley answered, still giggling. I rolled my eyes. "Calm down, Karla. We're safe now."

I nodded slowly. I was still nervous from our escape, but Ashley seemed to have completely recovered. "Right. We're safe," I repeated firmly, talking to myself.

"Hey, I'll be right back," Ashley said, getting up and heading to where there were some peanuts.

Deciding to make the most of our trip, I looked out the window. I mean, it's not every day you get to ride first class on a plane. The view was perfectly pathetic. All that could be seen was the white mass of a cloud. Not all that exciting. Turning back to my book, I began to read a list of hotels run by monsters again. Totally boring, but I figured it would be useful.

Suddenly a menacing voice shouted, "Nobody move! We are hijacking the plane."

I found that statement a little odd. I mean seriously, who announces they are hijacking a plane? I turned to look at where the voice came from and saw several men wearing ski masks. They were holding objects that looked like dangerous weapons. How on earth they got on the plane with those weapons I had no idea, but I wasn't really thinking about it at the time. Mostly I was wondering what famous building they planned to fly our plane into. I looked around for Ashley, but she was nowhere in sight. _Lucky for her, _I thought. She was safe for now at least. Some of the hijackers had made their way to where the pilot was and had taken over steering. I really hoped they had a clue how to fly a plane.

I would like to say that I had gathered up my courage attacked the hijackers, leading the rest of people on the plane to victory. As wonderful as that is, it's not what happened. I sat as small and still as I could, frightened half to death. You would think that two years training for war would make me brave and heroic and stuff, but no. In battle on the ground I am fine, but a couple _thousand_ feet in the air without any piloting experience? Not my ideal heroic-action conditions.

Suddenly (lots of things happened suddenly on that plane ride) a kid not much older than me came rushing forward with a jar full of boiling water in hand one hand, a small knife in the other. She looked very courageous with her orange-yellow hair flying behind her. Glancing at the knife, I wondered how she got on the plane with it when my seemingly harmless ring had set the security off. Then I realized that it was no ordinary knife: it was made of celestial bronze, the only metal capable of killing monsters. From that information I determined that she was a demi-god. Whether or not that was good for me I had no idea.

By the time I had figured all this out the girl had crossed the plane and was kicking in the door that lead to where the terrorists were. She was pretty strong and the door had been a bit jarred by the hijackers. As the young Half-Blood single-handedly attempted to save the plane, I came to my senses and jumped up to help her.

"You! You cannot hope to escape for us!" one of the terrorists screeched at me. With a sickening feeling I realized what I had subconsciously known all along: the plane had been hijacked by monsters sent to either kill me or take me prisoner. And worst of all, one of the monsters on the plane was Kleidi (the key guy), one of Kronos' top minions and my best teacher. I stood there for a moment, frozen, in complete horror.

I guess the demi-god thought that meant I was being chased by monsters and that I had no clue that I was a demi-god. That was just as good for me, as most children of gods aren't exactly what you call friendly to children of titans.

Realizing the dire implications of the situation, I touched my ring and started attacking the monsters with my Sai. I knew there was no way I could beat Kleidi (I had tried time and time again over the past two years), but there was no way I was going to give up without trying.

Kleidi waited behind his minions, saving his energy for just in case I wasn't killed by one of the other monsters. A frost giant (who just happened to be Steven's dad) blew ice at me, but I froze his magic in time. That was something I had gotten pretty good at, mostly because Kronos made me do it time and time again. Although I was terrible at spelling and reading (English), controlling my power was something I was a natural at. While he was still slowed by the frost coming out of his mouth, I lunged forward and stabbed the Frost Giant with my Sai. He disintegrated into a fine gold dust, shining forth a bright, annoying light that lingered in the air for a few moments.

While I was half-blinded by the light, another monster attacked. I just barely avoided a death strike, getting instead a nasty slice on my leg. I screamed in pain, but by then it was too loud for anyone to really hear me or care. Turning to face my attacker, I nearly vomited in disgust. And believe me, I've seen a lot of nasty things. I mean, you don't spend two years with working for Kronos and not see gross creatures. But I had never seen this one before. It was so repulsively deformed-looking I had no idea what gender it was, let alone species. It was a metalic rust color with olive green swirls mixed in. Where the nose should have been there was only a dark hole. There were about seven eyes (I remember there was an odd number. Don't ask me why), placed at irregular intervals on its face and body. But most of that I barely noticed. Mostly I saw the mouth. It was about three times the size of the rest of the head, with around fifty rows of long, needle-like teeth. In short, it was terrifyingly disgusting.

I had no idea how to fight the thing, so I froze it in time. For lack of a better idea, I lunged forward and stabbed at Mr/Mrs. Scary-Gross. Just as I was about to plunge my Sai into the dreadful creature it dodged out of the way. I was shocked that it had been able to stop my power, but I didn't let it show. As it was, I really did not have time to think about it. Mr/Mrs. Scary-Gross slashed at me with razor-sharp claws and snapped at me with deadly teeth. I evaded it as best I could, but there was not a lot of room to move around in. After a few moments (5 minutes and 3 sec, to be exact. No, I was not trying to keep track) I realized the monster was winning. I jumped back to avoid its vicious teeth and found myself pinned against the wall. The monster advanced, obviously aware it had won. Despite the fact I had no escape, there was no way I was going to give up. Rather than wait for the monster to reach me, I jumped forward and stabbed. The monster easily blocked and pinned me to the ground with one clawish thing.

"I would kill you, but the Lord of Time wants you alive," Mr/Mrs. Scary-Gross hissed, his/her voice low and menacing.

"Why would he want that?" I asked, fighting for breath as the monster pressed down on my lungs. And believe me, that monster was not light-weight.

"The Lord of Time will tell you."

"Why don't you tell me now? Does Dad not trust you enough to tell you his minor plans?" I taunted, trusting that the monster was loyal enough to Kronos that he/she would follow orders and not kill me.

"The Lord of Time trusts me more than he ever trusted you!" the creature screeched.

I rolled my eyes, trying to appear as though I was comfortable and in control of the situation. "Dad told me that he trusted me most. I have never seen you, so obviously he never sent you on special missions."

"The Lord of Time has good reason to keep me secret. The Gods have forgotten me, so I am one of his best weapons," the monster hissed proudly. I was beginning to wonder if it was capable of speaking without hissing.

"Yes, but there is no way you could ever be as important as me," I said, doing my best to pretend I knew all of Kronos' plans. I had no idea what I was worth alive to Kronos seeing as I was pretty much his destruction...

"You are worthless, little traitor," the monster said, and yes he/she hissed.

"Then why take me alive? If I am so worthless, why not kill me now?" I realized it was probably not the wisest decision to suggest killing me, but I thought maybe it would get me some information.

"Kronos wants you alive!" the monster hissed, enraged. "But only because you are the only one who can..."

Suddenly the monster went up in flames. I struggled away, barely avoiding getting roasted. The golden dust and light fell that signaled the monster was slain fell around me. I saw the girl with orange-yellow hair standing behind where the monster had been, sword in hand. I smiled my thanks as she helped me up.

"She killed the key-fingered man," she said, indicating to Ashley.

"How?" I asked, astonished. I had spent two years of my life trying to beat him but had never succeeded.

"With a bobby-pin," Ashley replied, walking up. "I figured it would be his worst enemy, and I was right. He couldn't touch me while I had it."

I nodded, relieved that Kleidi and Mr./Mrs. Scary-Gross were dead, yet terrified that I might be recognized.

"There are still more monsters on this plane," the girl said calmly, indicating to about three dozen various creatures. "Come with me."

Since I had no other plan, I obeyed her. She led Ashley and I to a window, which she promptly broke.

"Alright, jump!" she commanded.

I looked at her like she was crazy, which seemed like a logical assumption that she actually was at the time. "You have got to be kidding," I said, not bothering to be polite.

"Just jump. My dad will save us," she replied, sounding a little annoyed yet understanding.

"Your dad?" Ashley asked incredulously.

"Yes, just jump," she repeated. I heard the monsters behind me and identified most of them as Really Really Dangerous, so I jumped. Ashley and the girl were right behind me. As I fell, my blood ran cold when I heard the evil voice of Mr./Mrs. Scary-Gross in my ear, finishing his/her sentence.

"You are the only one who can save Kronos. And you will."


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